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Read today’s most important corona news here.
As a precaution, Finland is interrupting the administration of AstraZeneca’s corona vaccine to investigate two cases of complications with blood clots. This was reported by the National Health Service (THL). The side effects occurred between four and ten days after the injection.
The Swedish-British vaccine has just been approved again by the European Medicines Agency EMA, after use in many other countries was halted due to some complications with blood clots. The World Health Organization (WHO) also said that the benefits outweigh possible side effects.
Finland is putting the drug back into use “when there is more clarity about the link between the blood clots and the vaccine,” says the health authority.
The blood clots are “very rare,” according to THL. Finnish media write on the basis of a health service press conference that it is not yet certain whether the complications are due to the vaccine. People who have already been vaccinated with the drug should not be concerned.
According to THL, temporarily stopping the AstraZeneca vaccine will not have a major effect on the national vaccination plan. Where possible, people who have already made an appointment are vaccinated with another substance.
3.55 pm – French Prime Minister receives corona vaccine from AstraZeneca
French Prime Minister Jean Castex has had his first dose of AstraZeneca’s corona vaccine. That happened Friday, the day on which France put the drug of the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company back into use after a short suspension.
The 55-year-old politician received his injection in a military hospital near Paris. Castex’s vaccination was shown live on television, attempting to restore public confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The AstraZeneca vaccine was not used in France for several days due to concerns about clot formation and a decreased platelet count in vaccinees. Now that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has again issued a positive advice, vaccinations have resumed in the country.
In Europe, the possible side effects occurred mainly in people under 55 years of age. The French health authorities have therefore decided as a precaution that only older people will receive the relevant vaccine.
1:49 pm – France: AstraZeneca vaccine for people over 55 only
The French health authorities recommend that the AstraZeneca vaccine should only be given to the elderly over 55 years old. This was decided because of the reports of a combination of clot formation and a reduced number of platelets in vaccinees.
Several dozen cases of vaccinees with these rare conditions are known in Europe. Most of these people are under the age of 55. Although it has not been proven to be side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine, France will only give it to people who are older as a precaution.
The possible side effects resulted in several European countries, including France, temporarily suspending the use of the vaccine. The vaccinations with AstraZeneca were resumed in France after a few days on Friday after a positive advice from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which spoke of a “safe and effective” vaccine on Thursday.
12.47 pm – Denmark continues to stop vaccination AstraZeneca
Denmark is not yet going to vaccinate people with AstraZeneca’s corona vaccine. The European medicine watchdog EMA ruled on Thursday that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the possible risks. In the coming days, the Danish health services will assess what that conclusion means for their vaccination program.
Denmark was the first country to stop using the vaccine altogether last week due to concerns about potential side effects. Several European countries, including the Netherlands, followed suit. After the EMA emphasized that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective, many countries decided to return it to use.
However, the Danish authorities are reticent. The decision to suspend vaccination for the time being remains in effect, the Danish health authority reports. This indicates that the European regulator could not rule out the possibility that there is a link between rare complications and the vaccine.
Not only the Danes think it is too early to resume vaccination. Sweden and Norway are also sticking to their vaccination stop. “The vaccination with AstraZeneca will be suspended until we have a full picture of the situation,” said the head of the Norwegian health service NIPH on Thursday.
12.30 pm – Government guarantees for costs of events from July 1
From 1 July, the government largely guarantees the costs incurred if a concert, festival, sports match or conference cannot take place due to corona restrictions. The outgoing cabinet is setting aside 385 million euros for this.
Due to the corona crisis, most events could not take place last year. In many cases, the costs were covered by cancellation insurance, but insurers have now scrapped that option. The financial risks associated with an event are therefore too powerful for many organizers.
State Secretary Mona Keijzer (Economic Affairs) and Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven (Culture) have therefore come up with a scheme to overcome those risks. In the event of cancellation, entrepreneurs will be reimbursed 80 percent of the costs, for the remaining 20 percent they can receive a loan.
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A volunteer is injected in Amsterdam UMC as part of a study into a new corona vaccine.
Ⓒ ANP JEROEN JUMELET
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It is expected that by early July, all adults who want to be vaccinated will have had at least one shot. The cabinet assumes that this will allow many of the restrictive measures against the corona virus to be relaxed, although it is “not conceivable” that events such as those for corona will be possible by then.
“Not only the organizers, but the audience also yearns for a concert, a festival, a football match,” says Keijzer. But planning it takes time and currently involves a lot of uncertainty. “We want to remove that uncertainty with the guarantee provided by this arrangement.”
10.15am – Paris empties after lockdown announcement
Shortly after the announcement by French Prime Minister Jean Castex that a new lockdown will be introduced in 16 departments, including the Paris region, on Friday, there has been a rush for train tickets in the French capital. It soon became impossible to book a seat on a train to Brittany or the southwest. The last available seats were in first class on expensive, long detour train journeys.
It is no longer possible to travel by train to, for example, Rennes or Biarritz on Friday, according to French media. The planes to Corsica, for example, are also full. Almost all departments where the stricter lockdown will apply are in the north, from the Paris region to the Channel and the Belgian border.
The restrictions must be imposed at least four weeks in the sixteen departments because, according to Castex, the corona virus has recently been on the rise again. Schools will remain open, but all non-essential stores except bookstores will be closed. People must stay within 6 miles of their home during lockdown. Travel to other regions is not permitted.
In France, a curfew already applies from 6 p.m., but it starts an hour later from Saturday, one week before the introduction of summer time. In the region around Nice and around Dunkirk in the northwest, a weekend lockdown has been in effect for several weeks.
10.00 am – General practitioner makes more frequent referrals
Last week, GPs again referred their patients to hospitals and clinics as often as they would have without a corona crisis. That is the first time since last summer. This is reported by the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa).
According to the organization, the increase could also mean that people with health problems visit their GP earlier. Previously, health organizations urged people to just keep reporting complaints.
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Ⓒ Dutch Height / ANP
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Acute and semi-acute care is fully available in all hospitals. Care that must take place within six weeks is now available in 79 percent of hospitals. Part of this care can be provided in the remaining 21 percent.
It is different for care that can wait longer than six weeks without major consequences. This care that can be planned is partly available at 82 percent of the hospitals and only fully in 8 percent of them.
The operating capacity is also still lower than the normal number of available operating theaters.
5.13 am – Number of new corona cases in Germany remained virtually the same
The number of new corona cases diagnosed in the last 24 hours in Germany is almost the same as the day before. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the German counterpart of the RIVM, reported 17,482 new infections on Friday morning. On Thursday, the RKI reported 17,504 new infections, the largest increase in 24 hours since January 22.
A total of 2,629,750 people in Germany have now been tested positive for the corona virus.
On Tuesday, the RKI warned that there is an exponential growth in the number of corona infections in Germany. The number increased by about 20 percent last week from a week earlier. RKI epidemiologist Dirk Brockmann speaks of a third wave. The recently implemented eases would accelerate this.
In the past 24 hours, another 226 Germans died from Covid-19. This brings the total official number of corona deaths in Germany to 74,358.
5:16 am – More than 2,700 corona deaths in Brazil, second deadliest day
In Brazil, 2,724 new corona deaths were registered on Thursday, the Brazilian Ministry of Health reports. It marks the second deadliest day for the country since the coronavirus outbreak. On Tuesday, a record number of more than 2,800 Brazilians who died from Covid-19 within 24 hours were reported.
Another 86,982 new corona infections were diagnosed on Thursday. On Wednesday, local authorities reported a record number of more than 90,000 infections. In total, about 11.7 million infections with the lung virus have already been diagnosed in Brazil. Both the Brazilian death toll and the number of infections are the second highest in the world, behind the United States in both cases.
It was announced on Thursday that the German Air Force will be flying eighty respirators to Brazil to assist the country in treating patients. The country of 214 million inhabitants currently has more than 8,300 people who have been admitted to hospitals in critical condition as a result of a corona infection. 1.1 million people are infected but not very ill.
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Ⓒ Dutch Height / AFP
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Brazil has approximately 66,000 intensive care units, divided between public health care and private health institutions. However, in the vast country, the numbers of IC equipment prescribed by federal health authorities are not available everywhere.
Although the epidemic in Brazil is heading in the wrong direction, partly due to mutated variants, right-wing populist president Jair Bolsonaro continues to play down the seriousness of the virus. On Wednesday, Bolsonaro said he was happy that his supporters are demonstrating against rules around keeping their distance.
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